very noisy bird
Hi everyone, I need some advice.
I have a 5-month-old cockatiel, and I’ve had him for about 2 months. During the first few weeks after I brought him home, he mostly made sweet little chirping sounds. However, after a couple of weeks, he started making this loud “static”/baby begging noise, and now he does it almost the entire day whenever he sees people.
The main pattern I’ve noticed is that he usually quiets down when he is not seeing people. When I leave him alone in a room, he may flock-call for a few seconds, but then he eventually becomes quiet. However, as soon as I come back, or whenever he sees anyone, he immediately starts making the static noise again.
He is not scared of people. He is actually very comfortable around them and willingly steps up on anyone’s finger if they invite him, without needing to be forced. He will go with almost anyone who offers a hand, but even while he is on someone’s hand or getting attention, he still keeps making the same noise.
For context, he was raised mostly on seeds by the pet shop I adopted him from. He has pellets available, but he refuses to eat them no matter what technique I try. He eats seeds, and he may quiet down while actively eating, but the bigger issue seems to be that he gets noisy whenever he sees people.
I’ve babysat cockatiels before, but this is the first time I’ve encountered this kind of constant baby/static noise, especially because he did not do it at first.
Is this normal for a 5-month-old cockatiel? Could this still be baby begging behavior, attention-seeking, learned behavior, or something food-related? How should I handle this without accidentally reinforcing the noise?
Any advice would be really appreciated.